(NEW LIFE YOUTH)
14-year-old Lindy Koh is a member of New Life Youth, our Mandarin youth congregation. She shares about how God helped her through a life-threatening medical condition. Her parents, Kelvin Koh and Yvonne Yap worship in COR’s Mandarin Service.
On 6 February 2019, I felt a sudden pain on the left side of my chest, which left after a few minutes. This sudden pain would recur over the next two days.
My parents and I thought the pain was likely due to stress from my heavy school workload, but we decided to have it checked out at the polyclinic anyway. The x-ray showed that my left lung was smaller than the right, and I was immediately sent to KK Hospital’s Accident and Emergency by ambulance!
At the hospital, I was shocked to be told that there was a 2.6 cm air space between my lung and chest wall on the x-ray, which was diagnosed as “spontaneous pneumothorax”.
After 2 days in hospital, my condition stabilised with the air space reduced from 2.6 cm to 0.9 cm. Yet, not knowing when I could go home made me concerned about missing school and keeping up with my studies. Still, I appreciated the visits and prayers of the many friends and elders from church, which strengthened my faith. I am sure that God answered our prayers and performed a miracle because on the very next day, the x-ray showed the air space between my lung and my chest wall totally gone! From 2.6 cm to 0.9 cm… and to 0 cm! Praise the Lord! I could be discharged from the hospital!
However, 10 days later in school, I felt a very heavy and painful pressure on my chest. The pain lasted for half an hour, and I began to feel breathless. The school called my mom and she brought me back to the hospital. The air space between my lung and chest wall had grown to between 8 and 9 cm--my lung had shrunk to about one-third of its normal size! Suddenly, my condition became very critical. As a second occurrence of spontaneous pneumothorax, my doctors decided to insert a tube through my chest to drain out the air in an operation that very evening. After 4 hours of surgery, they successfully removed two air bubbles. When the anesthetic wore off though, the pain was quite unbearable.
My parents wondered why I looked neither worried nor scared about the operation. I told them I simply felt God's peace. I was certain before entering the operating theatre, that my life was in His Hands, and that I could trust Him with it.
Although I have not fully recovered and my wounds are still painful, I have no doubt that my Heavenly Father has plans for me--‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give [me] a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11).
All thanks and glory be to God!
十四岁的许恩洁是复活堂中文部新生命青年聚会的会友。她在此想和大家分享神如何帮她战胜病魔的经历。她的父母亲，许志平弟兄和叶月珠姐妹也是中文部的会友。
在2019年2月6日，我左胸感到一阵突如其来的尖锐性刺痛，但过了几分钟，疼痛却又消失得无影无踪。接下来的两天，这种情况不断反复出现。
起初，我和我父母亲怀疑这阵疼痛是因着繁重学业的压力而导致的。不过，为了安全起见，我们还是决定去综合性诊所检查一番。从我的X-光报告中，医生发现我的左胸比右边的小。看到这状况，医生连忙叫了救护车把我送去竹脚医院的急诊室。当竹脚医院的医生告诉我，我的胸膜腔，也就是肺部和胸腔之间，有一个2.6公分的气胸时，我大吃了一惊。医生诊断出我是得了‘自发性气胸‘这个急症。
留院观察了两天后，我的病情开始稳定下来，气胸也从2.6公分缩小到了0.9公分。不过，医生还是没有给我一个明确的出院日期。因此我也开始为了不能回去学校上课而感到担忧， 深怕赶不上学校的进度。即便如此，我还是很感激那些来医院探访以及为我祷告的众多朋友以及教会的长者。我的信心也因着他们的代祷而变得更加坚固。我深信主已经垂听了我们的祷告，并用祂的大能行使了奇迹，因为第二天的X-光报告显示我胸腔里头的气胸已经完全地消失了！从2.6公分缩小到0.9公分，再到完全不见了。感谢赞美主! 我终于可以出院了！
然而，在出院后的第十天，我在学校时突然间感到一阵沉重且剧痛般的压力压在我的胸口上。在接下来的半个小时，除了疼痛，我还感到呼吸困难。我母亲接到校方的通知后，立即送我去医院。一检查，竟发现我胸膜腔内的气胸已经增加到8，9公分了。这也导致我的肺缩小了三分之一。
霎时间，我的情况变得很危急。
因为这是第二次病发，我的主治医生决定当天傍晚就为我动手术，在我的胸口插入一条管子来抽出我胸膜腔里头的空气。经过四个小时的手术，医生成功地从我的胸膜腔里移除了两个气胸。当麻醉剂药效消失后，手术后所引起的疼痛真的是让人不堪忍受。
在这过程当中，我的父母亲很讶异我为什么都没有一丝的担忧和恐惧。我告诉他们这是因为我心中感受到了从主而来的平安。在我还没有进入手术室时，我确信我的生命是在祂的手中，而且我可以完全地信靠祂。
虽然我还没有完全康复， 伤口有时还会隐隐作痛，我还是确信天父对我的生命已经有了祂自己的计划 – “ ‘因我自己知道我为你们所定的计划，是使你们得平安，而不是遭受灾祸的计划；要赐给你们美好的前程和盼望。’这是耶和华的宣告。” - 耶利米书 29:11
一切感谢荣耀归于神！
This article first appeared in Issue 19, April 2019 CHORUS Magazine.